Voting Technology

Optical Scan Ballot and Reader

The voter marks the ballot using a pen or a no. 2 pencil. Both sides of the ballot may be printed with candidate names and referenda issues. Next to each is a hollow square, circle or oval to be filled in, or a head-and-tail of an arrow to be connected. Ballots may be tabulated in the polling place using an optical scan reader, or collected for tabulation at a central location. In either case each ballot is entered into the reader, which reports to the software of a computer the ballot positions marked by the voter. The software summarizes the votes for each candidate or referenda issue.